Barely a month after being selected at 12 overall in the draft by the Raiders, Henry Ruggs III was laid up with an injury. He suffered a puncture wound in his thigh while helping a friend move, sending a shockwave through Raider Nation about the seriousness of the injury. No one felt that shockwave more than Ruggs himself.
“When it happened, of course you think of the worst,” Ruggs said over Zoom call Thursday, “but when I saw the doctors and things like that, they gave me a breakdown and told me I’d be back to 100% in no time and I actually being hard-headed, tried to do more than the doctors said I could do or what I should do.”
While Ruggs was recovering, his new teammates were holding practices, trying to make up for a lack of an offseason. Ruggs had to do what he could to stay in shape. He would lift weights and once he was well enough, he had to get back into shape. The last thing he wanted to do was try to come back too soon and either re-injure himself or suffer another injury. But as soon as he could, he joined his teammates in Vegas and was able to get in a few practices.
“Unfortunately I had the mishap with my leg so I wasn’t able to get in as many as I wanted to,” Ruggs said of the practices. “I came down for two weeks at separate times, so I got in when I could and I just came to work out and just kind of tagged along and watched.”
“I got a lot out of it. Got ahead on the playbook, kind of was ahead on the installs and it was helpful to get on the field and actually do it.”
The rookies reported to camp last week, and Ruggs was there on-time, ready to go. In fact, he was a few minutes late for the Zoom call because he was working on the jugs machine.
“I’m back feeling 100%,” Ruggs added. “I don’t feel like I’m behind in no way.”
